California teens win $1M in landmark acne mask expulsion case
Two teenagers expelled from an elite Catholic school in California for "blackface" received a total of over 1 million dollars in compensation from the jury. They proved that in the photo, which was the reason for their expulsion, they only had green acne masks on their faces.
2017, during a sleepover at a friend's house, 14-year-old students of Saint Francis High School in Mountain View took a photo in acne masks. They did this as a gesture of solidarity with a friend suffering from this troublesome affliction. The mask one of the boys' mothers bought was light green when applied and darkened after drying.
Teenagers accused of "Blackface"
Three years later, the photo went viral. It was found and widely shared during the peak of the Black Lives Matter protests after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The boys were accused of racism and expelled from the school.
This week, the jury in Santa Clara County ruled that the school violated the verbal agreement and did not provide the students due process before expulsion.
"This case is significant not only for our clients but for its groundbreaking effect on all private high schools in California, which are now legally required to provide fair procedure to students before punishing or expelling them," said Krista Baughman, one of the students' lawyers. The jury rightly confirmed that Saint Francis High School's procedures were unfair to our clients and that the school is not above the law."
Boys received 1 million dollars in compensation
According to the jury's decision, the students, identified in the lawsuit only as A.H. and H.H., received 500 thousand dollars in compensation each and a tuition refund of around 55 thousand dollars. A.H.'s family expressed their gratitude to the jury and the judicial system. "We want to sincerely thank the jury and the court system for helping our boys and our families find justice, which now paves the way for their names to be cleared for things they never did."
The initial lawsuit was for 20 million dollars. However, the jury rejected some of the boys' claims, including defamation and violation of freedom of speech. School representatives stated that they "respectfully disagree" with the jury's decision and are "exploring legal options," including appealing the verdict.
Source: latimes.com/nypost.com
